October 28, 2016
Dear Everyone:
Last night we had our first ARMA Chapter Meeting for the year.
The fiscal year runs from September through June, so we should
have had a meeting last month.
But last month we were still treading water after the disastrous
previous year.
In the previous year, 2015-2016, we had compiled a full schedule of
monthly meetings, complete with possible Speakers, and even a few
confirmed ones; but no one came to the meetings.
This is a stark contrast to years gone by when finding a Speaker
was the tough part. Getting
people to come to the meetings was fairly easy.
You set a date and place and people showed up.
One time our Speaker was actually the husband of a Board member.
He is a landscape artist and told us all about how he keeps track
of which paintings did well, which galleries sold what, and so on.
Technically, it was about managing his records of his paintings
but really, do you think people came to hear about paintings?
Really? No.
They came because that’s what you do if you’re an ARMA member.
You come to meetings to “learn” something about Records and
Information Management (RIM), no matter how lame the subject matter.
That’s the way we’ve always done it.
But last year, suddenly people weren’t doing it anymore.
We would put together a perfectly mediocre Speaker with a
perfectly mediocre restaurant and…
people stayed away in droves.
Part of it, we realized, was that many of our “regulars” were
gone. Vendors were no longer
sending their people to meetings, if the vendor even existed anymore.
Others were notified that “Records Management is no longer your
problem” by their bosses. So
we floundered around for a bit, wondering if our Chapter was about to go
down the drain.
Then it all changed. Last
night we had 15 people who registered and 14 of them showed up.
And we didn’t even have a real Speaker; just a “round-table”
discussion of what people would like to hear about in the coming year.
So what’s different now?
That would be
Pacific Gas and Electric (PG&E).
Of the 14 people who came, nine were PG&E employees and two were
“guests” dragged in by their spouse or soon-to-be-spouse.
In fact, of the eight people who have joined the Chapter so far
this year, six are PG&E.
You see, PG&E is
embracing RIM with more fervor than
Donald Trump
hugging the US flag. PG&E
even had a recruitment booth at the last two ARMA International
Conferences, scarfing up Records Managers of all stripes as quickly as
they possibly could. So a
number of Members that are new to our Chapter were already ARMA Members
just switching from their previous one, like “Isobel”, who left
Denver
for the Bay Area, bringing her RIM expertise with her.
To which I say, the more the merrier.
Our new Chapter Director of Membership, “Abigail”, is one of the
people hiring new-to-PG&E employees and almost simultaneously directing
them to the membership page on ARMA International’s website.
She is also the one who is “encouraging” the new Members to
attend the monthly Chapter Meetings.
Or else.
As for last night’s “round-table” discussion to come up with ideas for
future meetings: We got
dozens of ideas. “Abigail”
assured the group that she could give a talk on one subject and “Isobel”
claimed another. “Abigail”
already has the Speaker for next month’s meeting lined up; another PG&E
employee with the Golden Gate (San Francisco) Chapter.
She’s even arranging for us to use her office conference room
since the restaurant we usually use is busy that day.
And “Cedric” has taken over our Chapter Website, much to my relief.
All in all, things are definitely looking up.
As long as PG&E stays in business, of course.
Love, as always,
Pete
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